Hermeneutics Quiz

So, I took this quick quiz from buildingchurchleaders.com. The quiz was to assess your style of interpreting Scriptures. I was fairly certain that I would be classified as a progressive due to my views on grammatical and historical context.

Sure enough – I scored a 66. That means I am a moderate progressive.

The progressive tends to see the Bible as historically shaped and culturally conditioned, and yet most still consider it the Word of God for today. Following a progressive hermeneutic, for the Word to speak in our day, one must interpret what the Bible said in its day and discern its pattern for revelation in order to apply it to our world.

Yeah, pretty much.

Given my options, I think I would define my view of Scripture interpretation this way:

• The Scriptures were given to us in community, to be understood in community. We must explore relationships, not simply propositions and ideas.
• These relationships are not primarily internal. Nothing in Scripture is isolated from its culture, its author, or its audience.
• We must explore the Scriptures in community. Preaching/teaching must be a dialogue of people and God.

Crafting a teaching ministry that conforms to this view is difficult. It is mind-bending to contemplate how we might commune with the Scriptures as a community, but we’re working on it.

One thing I really think we need to do is create more participation – blur the line between the “preacher” and the “audience.” This is much harder than it sounds because Christians have a certain preconception about how a preacher should interact with his “crowd.”

Any thoughts?